Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c66.22

v1.c66.22

The word *kavi-karpaṭī* means "the ragged cloth of a poet," and the work is a strange effort at supplying a profuse stock of expressions which may be of use in poetic compositions for ideas of frequent occurrence. Various ways of expressing one and the same thought are indicated to suit various metres. The author, who also wrote the *Laṭakamelaka-prahasana* (ed. Kāvyamālā 20, 1889), was the court-poet of *mahāmāṇḍalikādhirāja* Govinda-nṛpati, king of Kānyakubja, and wrote in the first half of the 12th century (about 1113-1143 A.D.). His verses are quoted in the anthologies of Śārṅgadhara (nos. 155, 3632) and Jalhaṇa, and in the *Sāhitya-darpaṇa* (ad iii 219 p. 176, *guror giraḥ pañca*, anonymously). The verse cited under Kārpaṭika in Kṣemendra's *Aucitya-vicāra* (under *śl* 15) is attributed to Mātṛgupta by Kalhaṇa (iii 181) and in the *Subhāṣitāvali*¹ (3181).